HTC 10 Announced Today, Here’s the Details
HTC held an event on the 12th to launch their new flagship phone. HTC has had a bit of a rough patch with their phones starting with the M9 not being received terribly well and the A9 getting dangerously close to looking like an iPhone, if we’re honest. Thankfully though, they seemed to have course corrected and gone back to what makes HTC phones HTC phones with the HTC 10.
So first thing you’ll notice about the new HTC 10 is that the word One isn’t there. In an effort to probably associate this new device with a reinvention of their lineup, HTC has dropped the One moniker. HTC’s Head of Global Product Marketing Darren Sng (yup, there are no vowels in his last name) told Android Central ahead of the launch that the idea behind the name is that they are aiming for a “perfect 10” device.
Body & Design
The body of this new device has chamfered edges on the back of the unibody metal design along with smaller edges on the front to help the 5.2″ 2.5K SuperLCD 5 screen transition to the thin sides of the device.
On the right side, we have the SIM tray, a textured power button, to help you differentiate it from the volume buttons that also sit on that side.
At the bottom we have a fingerprint sensor/home button and capacitive buttons for back and multitasking.
Audio
HTC has also dropped the dual front facing speakers in favor of a different type of system. Instead they have a HiFi BoomSound speaker at the top hidden in the earpiece to play the higher audio and the equivalent of a subwoofer at the very bottom for the low-end. Of course, we’ll have to see how this new setup stacks up against the much beloved dual speakers from before, but so far most people’s reactions are at least positive.
Also, in the audio department, the HTC 10 has 24 bit audio support when using a wired headset (like the LG G5 once it adds the HiFi Module) and can even upscale audio to the better quality as well. Because of this, they have also released a new wired headset to take advantage of the high-def audio.
Camera
A department where the M9 lacked and caused a huge uproar is the camera so a lot is riding on it for this new flagship in the minds of HTC fans.
On the new HTC 10, HTC has brought back the UltraPixel concept they started a while back with a new rear-facing 12MP UltraPixel 2 sensor that has larger pixels instead of more. These pixels are 1.55 microns in size which is the same size as the Nexus 6P’s and slightly larger than the new Galaxy S7’s 1.4 micron pixels, in case you’re keeping score.
On the front, we have a new 5MP camera with the same UltraPixels, but with the included benefit of image stabilization –usually only found in the rear facing cameras of devices but HTC has added it to both on this one. Shaky selfies are a common issue, I suppose…
Performance & Battery
Powering all of this we have a Snapdragon 820 processor (like most flagships this year), 4GBs of RAM, 32GBs of internal storage with an option for a MicroSD card for further storage, and a 3000mah battery.
Price and Release Date
The HTC 10 will start shipping in “early May” for around $700.
Conclusion
There you go a quick run down of the new HTC 10. I, for one, am excited about the specs and design, but am going to wait until I can get my hands on one before I let HTC off the hook.
In the meantime, for my favorite hands on articles of the new device, check out the links below and let me know what you guys think in the comments!
Favorite HTC 10 Hands-On from Around the Web
Full specs and to pre-order – http://www.htc.com/us/smartphones/htc-10/
